The Labor Force: Rapidly Shrinking Fast

Back in the day, Americans can easily get a job. It’s really quite like a walk in the park where you can come inside a friendly establishment at your neighborhood, ask the entrepreneur if he needs some help in his store and voila, you are now employed. This style of job hunting and hiring is popular among the American youth when they are looking for a summer job while school is out. But now, things aren’t so easy. In fact, the situation has got from bad to worse.

All these started during the global financial crisis of 2008, where the US took quite a severe beating-companies that were thought of as too big to fail simply floundered and came crashing down. To illustrate how bad the situation is that ultimately affected the American labor force, back in 2007 66 per cent of the American population are employed or were actively seeking employment.

Too Few Workers
Fast forward to 2013, that number is now at a mere 62.8 per cent. This has been the lowest employment rate ever in America since 1977. This is of course felt across every State in the US and the respective businesses therein from Alabama car insurance, to Maine fishing industries and Idaho farming—there simply are far too few people who are working nowadays.

Aside from the global financial crisis during 2008, what are the other possible reasons why labor participation has been slumping during the past half decade? Well, one reason is that age becomes a factor in the equation. Older Americans who have been through the prime of their lives are now seeking retirement.

On the other side of the fence, the youth on whose back the country’s labor might take growth keep on going back to school learning everything they can with their masters and post graduate studies. The current workforce meanwhile, keep on getting disillusioned at the US economy by the minute. Many are now discouraged by the weak US economy that keeps on laying off employees.

Aging America
Baby boomers simply have had enough with working to the bone. This generation was the reason why America became an industrial powerhouse. When they were young, the boomers were out there doing what they can and entering whatever jobs they could find as long as they could earn money. No job for them was too tawdry or too run-off-the-mill, as long as they were making money; they are fine. They are industrious and were very much willing to learn.

This made them the some of the most eligible persons for the job. However, due to the fact that they are retiring en masse, they would be replaced by younger persons who may be ecstatic to work, however, they are grossly inexperienced.

Crumpling CVs
Since the overall pickings are slim in the current job market, this forces more and more Americans to take keep on going back to school to pad their respective CVs. Although this in general isn’t a bad thing, the possible repercussion here is that younger people who could have spent their time working and developing a career already are forced to delay actual work.

The youth of America keep on finding excuses to pursue more degrees. If they aren’t careful, this would bleed them dry. When that happens, they would be forced to settle for less. This is why it is no wonder why some college graduates are underpaid and under hired— sans any choice but to take practically any job that could come by.

All in all, these are tell-tale signs that America should be careful in the future. More jobs must be generated and more demand must come from the people. Otherwise, this economic slump would continue for the unforeseeable future.

Investing in Properties

When it comes to investing, most people now just focus on trading equities and investing in mutual funds. These are great options for “saving” up money for the future. Of course, these aren’t the only investing options one has. Although the recession has taken its toll on real estate in Canada, investing in one’s properties can still make people profits in the long run. The reason why I am writing this article is to shed light on the fact that real estate can still be a worthy investment. Hopefully, people will start taking better care of their properties after reading this post.

Obviously, one of the main determiners of a property’s value is how much area it occupies. Of course, it isn’t the only important contributor to a property’s value. The condition of the house also plays a significant role in determining its price. For this reason, property owners need to take extra care of and make necessary renovations to their houses if they want to turn them into profitable investments. One of the ways they can do this is by having a basement finishing Toronto company renovate their houses’ basements. For one, simply adding a bathroom to a basement can already increase its value significantly. Of course, it’s not the only thing that can improve a basement’s value. Basement contractors know what works to increase a basement’s value – by hiring them, a person can make sure that all the renovations done to their basement will actually increase its value.

Most property owners in Canada are aware of the importance of improving their houses. They hire kitchen renovations Toronto companies to make their kitchens look more aesthetically pleasing and functional. Although overground spaces are taken care of, most property owners don’t take enough care of their houses’ basements. The value of underground spaces will never be as high as the value of overground spaces, but having a good finished basement can still add a lot of value to a house.

When having basements renovated, property owners should make sure that electrical work and other related considerations are addressed so that everything is up to code. Inspection problems can cause the sale of a property to get cancelled – property owners should hire the appropriate contractors to make sure that basement renovations don’t break safety regulations and other codes.

While basement contractors can turn basements into amazing hobby rooms, property owners would do well to just have them renovated for general use. This is because turning basements into an area for a specific use will limit the number of people who will find it appealing. A basement bar may seem like a great addition for some people, but others will definitely find it not to their liking.

Hopefully, the few tips mentioned in this post will give many property owners a number of great ideas with regard to property renovations and investment. Just because it’s not the best time for selling property doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to make money off of it right now. And even if it’s impossible to sell one’s properties right now at a great price, investing in them now will certainly still pay off in the future.

Bookkeeping and Accounting for Small Businesses

No matter how small a business is, operating one will always be tough. Proprietors need to take care of even the minutest of details if they don’t want to get into trouble. Two of the things business proprietors need to be very meticulous about are their bookkeeping and accounting. Not being careful about handling these things can result in huge problems come tax time. Of course, any business proprietor knows that although doing bookkeeping and accounting is fairly easy, it can be very tedious and take a lot of valuable time out of their hands. The reason I am actually writing this post is to help small business owners in the Greater Toronto Area deal with their tax and finance issues much more easily. By following one simple tip, these business owners will be able to save a lot of valuable time and money.

This may come as a surprise to small business owners, but hiring accounting and bookkeeping Toronto companies can actually save them a lot of time and money. Hiring accountants to take care of one’s expenses can help business owners avail of tax deductions without running into problems. On the other hand, bookkeepers can make important transactions with the government and other entities much smoother. When one hires a good accountant and bookkeeping company, they won’t have to worry about handling personal tax returns and business statements anymore. Business owners don’t have to worry about the cost of accounting/bookkeeping services; unlike back then, hiring a company to take care of one’s accounting and bookkeeping needs is now a very affordable for small businesses.

Of course, it is important that business owners hire only trustworthy and reliable bookkeepers and accountants. The last thing they need is a company that will just pilfer much of their hard-earned profits. When finding an accounting and bookkeeping company, small business owners would do well to ask for references. The best accounting and bookkeeping companies will readily give prospective clients customer references because it builds trust fast and helps prospective clients get an idea of what they are going to get should they work with the company.

Another important thing business owners should do is to talk about the fees for the accounting and bookkeeping company’s services upfront. Everything has to be clear. Disreputable accounting and bookkeeping companies always try to keep clients in the dark so that they are able to charge them more than what they bargained for. Lastly, prospective clients should always trust their instincts. No matter how sound availing of the services of an accounting and bookkeeping company may seem, one should not do business with them if they don’t feel good about it.

Hopefully, this post will end up helping a lot of business owners make the most out of the tax deductions they can avail of, as well as minimize expenses while saving valuable time. If you are a small business owner and are having trouble finding the right bookkeeping company for your enterprise, I suggest you check out http://www.sopwc.org/toronto-bookkeeping/. Accountable Solution Corporation is one of the leading bookkeeping companies in Toronto – with them, your business is in safe hands.

Mobile apps as a form of investment

Investment decisions are always uneasy. With so many ways to invest you can never tell for sure if you investment is going to work well, or work at all. Sure, the real estate still remains a popular kind of market to make good out of your investment. But in today’s information age, new forms of investment become available. Consider the mobile apps.

So why exactly a mobile application investment is may be good deal?

First and foremost, it is not for everyone, don’t get me wrong. You have to know what you are doing. But if you do, and buy a few apps today, they may yield a higher revenue, and faster than the real estate. Now I am not talking about buying the apps in terms of installing them on your mobile devise. That’s not an investment. What I mean is purchasing the ownership of the app from its owner, so that it generates you an income when other people install it.

Mobile applications these days are as important as having the software in your desktop computer or a laptop. In order to experience the full advantage of your mobile device one has to install mobile applications on it. Some apps are paid apps: the user has to pay to install them. Others are free, but they are monetized through the ads in the apps. Both ways, if you own that app you get paid.

Mobile apps are trendy, they are the talk of the town, and they are what people with mobile devices want and need. The apps can be bought and sold just like the real estate. There are marketplaces where you can buy and sell the apps to other buyers. Most apps are not nearly that expensive as homes, so you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to try it out. Though there are the apps that cost millions. There are mobile apps available for every budget, from a few dollars to millions, sky is the limit. The app can bring you sales revenue or passive advertising revenue or both, and pay for itself in a year or two. Compare this to the real estate that takes decades to pay for itself. You can always sell the app when you want to cash out. And, there is no property tax or land transfer tax on the apps!

Of course, you may want to do a proper checking of the app before buying it. Who is the owner, any there any possible trademark or copyright issues with the app content and artwork. How many total and current downloads, what’s the user demographic, etc. Other words, the investor should check the app just like the investor would check the title of a real estate property to make sure it’s clean.

A clean, sufficient, and efficient app with a lot of installs, good market positions and positive download trends might be a really great investment in this digital information age we live in. It only makes sense.

Lead Generation Consulting Helps Businesses get Clients with Seductive Music

Many retailers bank on the power of playing enticing Christmas carols in order to attract customers to buy more products. There is a new breed of lead generation consulting that is advising businesses how to entice clients to buy and to come back again.

Many retailers bank on the power of playing enticing Christmas carols in order to attract customers to buy more products. And now your business can get expert help and learn how to use music for increased sales for your business.

While business schools have invested heavily on the study of consumer behavior, the business owners of tomorrow have understood that you can never go wrong with playing music since it enhances retail experience, which in turn results in increased sales. In fact, many college business programs now offer classes on music for business. The logic is quite straightforward; when you get people in the holiday mood, you certainly make them want to shop more. The funny thing about all this is that the shoppers seem unaware of what is happening and cannot even tell whether they are being influenced in any way.

Curt Harriot is a lead generation consultant based in Manhattan who has been studying how different subconscious triggers influence human behavior. Harriot says, “For music to be effective as a lead generation tool, customers can’t be aware of it.”

This theory about human behavior is yet to be proven though observations seem to support it. Harriot, who speaks to businesses on music and lead generation strategies stated, “In New York department stores, shoppers who are exposed to music shop 18 percent longer and they make 17 percent more purchases than those in non-music stores”. He went on to say, “There are even rhythms and pitches and styles of music that are best for different shoppers.”

Some studies done recently confirmed that music influences buying decisions especially when played in the right context. In her explanation, she cited a study that showed that wine shops increase sales when they play classical music as opposed to Top 40 pop. According to Sarah Goldstein who is a partner at lead consultant firm, Asylum Associates, the nature of the background music that is played determines how much customers purchase in the festive season since music evokes positive emotions on shoppers. “Faster-paced music has a tendency to encourage impulsive purchases, while slower music creates a more contemplative, thoughtful buyer.” Christmas music helps different people relax by remembering a simpler and less chaotic time even though this may not actually be the case. The classic holiday songs are soothing and comforting because they are so familiar. People have emotional ties to the classic Christmas carols.

Lead generation consultant, Sarah Goldstein, also stated that if shoppers like the music they hear from a certain store, they are more likely to shop there more because it seems more comfortable and inviting. Shoppers and diners are likely to be attracted by up-tempo music since it is inviting. Playing slow music in your restaurant gives people more time to loiter around, which doesn’t really help in increasing sales.

So if your business could benefit from influential music, consider hiring a consultant for expert advise.